Phone a Friend (Because They Probably Know Better Than You)
by Spicy Scarlet
Summary: Based off of Season 6, this is what happens behind the scenes once Dalton burns, and the Warblers join the New Directions. What will the boys do with all of these girls? Who's this Skylar character? Skylar, the Captain of the Warblers, and Kitty, HBIC of the New Directions happen to meet, and sparks fly. How does this end? [ON HIATUS INDEFINITELY]
1. Meet the Gang

**A/N: This is something random I came up with when I was ****re-watching**** Season 6. I love the Warblers, and Skylar has absolutely nothing about him, and Kitty is my favorite of the Season 4-6 newbies, and I found a few parts where they have great chemistry, so I went further into it. If anything is incorrect, I'm sorry.**

**Disclaimer****: Glee isn't mine. It belongs to Ryan Murphy. I don't own anything.**

**Phone a Friend**

**(Because they probably know better than you)**

Skylar Reyes and the rest of the Dalton Academy Warblers file into the McKinley High auditorium for the second day of an Invitationals competition, set up by the wacky McKinley principal. Vocal Adrenaline, the third competing team, went the day before. _They were . . . impressive, in their choreography, but the costumes and songs sucked ass_, Skylar thinks as they sit down in the surprisingly comfortable seats. Vocal Adrenaline comes in next, followed by the New Directions, the McKinley team.

A mere four members, they look _very_ intimidated as they take their seats. Skylar looks around confused, noticing that the Warblers' coach, Blaine Anderson, is not present. He whispers this confusion to his best friend Leo Garrison, who's sitting on his right. Leo encourages him to go and tell Principal Sylvester, who is organizing this event. He does so, since it's their day to perform, and follows her out on stage.

She announces that Blaine is missing while forgetting Skylar's name, but they're still performing today. Rolling his eyes and hoping that Blaine is okay, Skylar preps everything and leads the rest of the boys behind the thick velvet curtain, and they take their places for their songs.

They kick off their set list with _My Sharona, _by the Knack, and they launch into really fun choreography to go along with it. Dancing perfectly in sync and time around the stage, they move around fluidly, Skylar taking leads, which is natural since he's Head Warbler, and Captain. In the beginning of the song, Skylar glances up around the McKinley auditorium, and suddenly there's a girl standing in the upper doorway, watching them.

She's absolutely gorgeous. Long, shiny blonde hair, tucked back into a high ponytail in one large curl down her back. Shining hazel eyes, super sexy short cheerleading outfit, showing off long tanned legs. Even though from description she sounds like the stereotypical cheerleader, she's prettier somehow. Maybe it's the curious look, or the naturally sassy posture, or the way she purses her lips as she observes. She hangs out in the door, out of view of the other teams. In addition to respectfully watching the song, her eyes flick over to the New Directions a few times. In Skylar's opinion, she looks kind of . . . sad. Like she wishes she could be singing and dancing too. If she goes here, can't she just join the New Directions?

Without missing a single beat or note, Skylar wonders all of these things, then they wrap up the song, smoothly transitioning to their version of _You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record)_ by Dead or Alive. Almost as soon as the song starts, the girl seems to sense Skylar looking at her, and they make eye contact for a brief second, his green eyes meeting her hazel ones. Something sparks between them, lingering in the air before she turns and hurries out of the room. But, he notices her sneak into the upper balcony to watch the rest of the song.

Continuing singing, since he has leads again, they do their song. Dancing around stage and incorporating more spinning (duh), Skylar is happy with the choreography. He did help come up with it too. It's fun, it fits the song, and it's just a little bit sexy. It goes as smoothly as planned, but Skylar gets the feeling that this "Principal Sylvester" doesn't like them, and will probably not judge on performance. She probably knew who would win before it even started. Well, at least it's a good opportunity to practice performing.

They finish and high five each other, exiting the stage area. Skylar also looks up and sees the cheerleader hurriedly leave, like she doesn't want to be seen. Damn. He kinda wanted to talk to her. That concludes day two. Sue ends the day, and the Warblers file out, still hyped on adrenaline from their performance. All the boys are proud of how well they did, and hopefully, they'll do well with the judging. They load onto their bus back to Dalton, and Skylar takes his usual seat, in the front, next to Leo.

"Hey dude, did you see that hot cheerleader watching us?" Leo asks, knowing that his friend definitely did. Skylar has a tendency to notice hot girl, mostly because more than half the time, they're tripping over themselves to say hi or to talk to him. Skylar has the looks of the duo.

Skylar simply nods, rolls his eyes at his friend for knowing him so well, and stares silently out the window. Leo smirks, but doesn't press anything, instead turning to Kirk Kambrey, who's sitting across the aisle from him, and asks him the same question. Kirk responds just as excitedly, saying that he definitely did, and the two started talking about her and how hot she was, with Skylar subtly eavesdropping.

As they pull into the school parking lot, all of them tumble out, and Leo takes Skylar's arm as he drags the head Warbler up to their shared dorm.

Kitty Wilde is escaping an impromptu, optional Cheerios boot camp, and she thinks about heading to the hopefully empty auditorium. She already is a master at everything Sue throws at them, so it's no loss. She still loves singing and dancing in the auditorium too, even though the glee club left her. Sometimes, she sneaks in there after school when everyone's gone and sings, so she can stay good. Maybe she can do something artsy and musical once she graduates and is off to college. She's graduating this year, too, since she transferred to McKinley in her junior year due to awful bullying at her old school.

She knows that the New Directions are starting up at McKinley again, but it's so small, and Rachel Berry. . . Kitty knows what she's like, and that she'll jump ship and leave as soon as she gets offered a role or an audition elsewhere. She's unreliable, and Kitty can't bear to have her heart crushed like that again. She put her soul into that club, and they abandoned her.

But, when she arrives in the auditorium, there's a lot of people in there. From what she can see, the New Directions, Vocal Adrenaline, and the Warblers and all of their respective coaches save Kurt and Blaine are here. _Whatever_, she thinks. _They're probably off making out in a closet or something._ Then she remembers that these three groups are having some Invitationals thing that Sue set up. It's a little suspicious to Kitty but she doesn't care. Or she shouldn't care about whatever madness Sue has planned. She can't care, especially because of whatever crazy reasons that their insane principal probably thinks she has for setting this stupid thing up.

The Warblers are performing a frankly fantastic cover of _My Sharona_, and Kitty can't help but watch them. She sets her eyes on the boy on lead, he's really good. And when she looks at him up and down, she sees that he's also _really_ good looking. Their dancing is really impressive, and the boy in the lead is doing an amazing job. Once they start their next song, _You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record),_ Kitty feels eyes on her, and sees at least five Warblers watching her, so she quickly escapes up to the balcony to watch in secret. They're really good, and their dancing is kinda hot, in her opinion. Pretty sexy, for prep-school boys. She wishes she could do that too, sing and dance onstage and have fun with friends. But, she doesn't really have friends anymore, and she can't risk joining the New Directions again.

Darting into the hall once they've finished, Kitty makes sure no one's around when she slips into the choir room. Even now, after all that she went through, it still feels safe to her. Like a second home. Plus, the piano is in here. And she has a song that she wants to sing. Locking all of the doors to prevent intruders on her solitary time, she sits on the piano bench and runs her fingers over the smooth ivory keys.

Playing an opening melody, she eventually starts to sing along to the song, specifically, Christina Aguilera's _Reflection_. She keeps up this facade all the time, the bitchy cheerleader, but she really wants to sing and be in glee. She is a bitch in general, but she wasn't as much of a bitch to the glee club once she learned to trust them. She wants to sing with them, but she can't believe that they won't just leave her again, since Sue hates them, and is on the demolition path.

Marley Rose was her best friend in glee, she showed Kitty the optimistic side of life, and she and Kitty had just formed a tight friendship when she left. She abandoned Kitty. Everyone did. The only reason Kitty wasn't expelled was because Sue needed her for Cheerios, and then everyone expected her not to care, since she was just the bitchy cheerleader. But Kitty's so much more than that. And if they'd even tried to stand up to Sue, even a little bit, they could have stayed. They didn't have to leave her, but they did. And they broke Kitty's heart in the process.

And, to top it all off, Kitty's a big enough bitch to know how to get Sue's passwords, and while snooping, she found a list of Sue's emotionally vulnerable songs, which would guarantee the New Directions a win at Invitationals.

Letting her wistfulness show, she sings along emotionally, happy with herself as she plays the closing notes.

She also might want to tell the New Directions about the spy camera. When that jerk Warbler Clarington came and stole their trophy, he had also set up a video camera in here. Kitty was going to take it down, but then he got expelled, and figured that he was at least smart enough to at least hide and encrypt his mode of watching them. And, then the glee club disbanded, so if anyone found it, it'd be blank footage, since Kitty practices on the auditorium. But she doesn't mind of some random Dalton boy seeing her sing this once, it's a song she's proud of, and she's no threat to them.

Standing, and resetting the piano, Kitty makes sure there are no traces of her being in the room as she slips out the doors.

One of Leo Garrison's favorite pastimes is mapping out Dalton. The campus is huge and complicated, and he wants to know every single inch of it. He enlists his buddy Skylar to help, Skylar always comes with him, assists in operations involving technology, and helps keep Leo's notes organized. Though in return, Leo can't complain about Skylar's sarcastic nature, and his sassy comments.

The two boys decide on exploring the extensive Dalton library for secrets, and, after the stern librarian reminds them to be quiet in their exploring, they set off. Darting down almost every single aisle, Skylar follows Leo, silently admiring his endless energy. Eventually, they make it to a deserted corner of the library, and Skylar starts taking notes; how they got there, what things are back there, stuff like that.

In his exploration, Skylar stumbles upon an old computer, that looks like it hasn't been touched in a while. At least a year, it seems. He calls Leo over, and takes a seat, turning on the computer. The lock screen has the profile of Hunter Clarington, the old and brutal, evil Captain of the Warblers at one point. Skylar was unlucky enough to have attended Dalton during Hunter's regime over the Warblers, and let's say it was not pretty. He has a scar on his rib cage to prove it. He's a senior now, and they had expelled Hunter a while ago. But this is interesting. He shares his thoughts with Leo, who now encourages Skylar to try and unlock the computer.

"Let's see," Skylar muses. "Hunter never was that bright, so his password must be something fairly obvious, or related to him. Oh! I think I've got it!" Skylar exclaims. Leo looks at him expectantly, but Skylar just types something in, and the home page launches. They got in.

"Well done, Mr. Mischievous! Very sly of you. What was it?"

"Well, it had to be something fairly near and dear to Hunter, so I thought that the demon-cat would be a good choice." Leo nods, wincing at the thought of Hunter's attack cat. Mr. Puss always scratched them if they did a step wrong, or if Hunter wanted to scare them into submission. Luckily, the cat died from a "mysterious" case of rat poison in his food. Luckily, Hunter didn't roid rage on the Warblers, who all banded together to dispose of the evil cat.

On the home browser, there's only one thing. Some sort of file. Skylar clicks on it, but it's encrypted. Another password. Skylar racks his brain, trying to think of something else that Hunter liked, or was related to him in any way.

"Try "World domination"," Leo suggests. Skylar shakes his head. Too generic. "'Sebastian'?" Skylar looks up at his friend incredulously. "Sorry. Um . . . 'Roid Rage'?" Skylar rolls his eyes at his best friend.

"Well, Hunter liked to sing . . . wait, what about 'Whistle?' That was his main song at Sectionals when we were juniors." Leo nods excitedly, and Skylar taps it in. Unlocked. Leo cheers, and they hear a faint _shhh_ from the main area of the library. They both chuckle, and look at the screen. Skylar clicks around a little bit, and sees that it's footage from a video camera, in what seems like random bouts of time. They decide to see where it is, and choose to play the latest video, since it seems to be still recording.

"So, Hunter set up a video camera somewhere, and forgot about it?" Leo asks, to make sure he's not missing anything. Skylar nods, just as confused.

"Apparently."

"Let's watch," Leo says. A mystery, for sure. It's interesting, at least.

"Wait. We want to watch this with sound. Here." Skylar then proceeds to download all of the files onto a random flash drive that he has in his blazer pocket, and then they take it back to Leo's computer in their dorm.

Plugging the flash drive into the laptop, Leo turns up the sound, and they click on the latest video. Somehow, Hunter added something, or someone else did, but they took out videos where nothing happened, and edited out stuff with no action. They focus their eyes on the screen, and see a room. It looks a little bit familiar to Skylar, but he doesn't think that he's been there before.

Then, the door opens, and a girl comes in. The cheerleader from the Invitational! This must be at McKinley. She looks wary, like someone's going to see her, but they watch, interested as she scurries around the room, locking the door before seating herself at the piano. Leo and Skylar's eyes widen as she starts to play the instrument. She starts to sing, and both boys' jaws drop. She's amazing,

"You know, if _she'd_ auditioned to be a Warbler, she'd have gotten in," Leo comments, referring to Jane Hayward, Dalton's only female student, who auditioned for the Warblers but just wasn't good enough. Her performance was fun, and they all danced along, but it wasn't quite up to their standards. She transferred to McKinley soon after. "She'd look _hot_ in a blazer, too," Leo says randomly. This girl would be good enough for their group, and Leo knows that Skylar and the rest of the Warblers would agree. Skylar says nothing, as stares as she sings. Leo does the same, and once she stops, she hurriedly resets the room, leaving no trace before she slips out. Then, the screen goes dark, taking a minute to move to the next video until Skylar pauses it.

"Wow," Leo breathes. Skylar looks at his friend, and nods in agreement.

"Yeah. She's really good."

"Weird that she's not in glee club. They seem like they could really use her skills." Skylar nods, and they scroll through the rest of the videos, but none of the others have the cheerleader in them. Some have the New Directions, some have the coaches, and they get older and older as they go. Leo is hooked, if only due to the mystery element. He wants to know everything, as is his goal in life, so he wants to know why she only came to the choir room once when she went to the auditorium while they were singing, and why she's not in the New Directions, and also maybe just her name.

Skylar, on the other hand, wants to know these things, but also wants to know why she snuck in on Invitationals, why she was so stealthy in the choir room, and why she was looking so sad while watching them perform. He resolves to find her next time he goes to McKinley, might it be all the way until Sectionals.

Closing the laptop with a snap, Leo looks over at his best friend, who appears to be deep in thought. Waving a hand in front of his face to snag his attention back from his dream world, Leo asks him, "So, what approach do you think the New Directions will do tomorrow? Out and extravagant? Dancing? Just singing?" Leo bounces excitedly on his bed, and Skylar smiles at his friend's boundless energy, even after two highly choreographed songs. The Head Warbler goes over to his side of the room and faceplants on his bed. Leo watches him, and thinks about how he can entertain his roommate. After thinking for a while, he gets an idea, one he's sure will tempt Skylar in to getting up and doing something.

"Hey Skylar?" A muffled grunt is his only reply. "You wanna hit up Scandals? It's not too late, and we won't get detention for breaking curfew." Leo knows that Skylar couldn't give a damn about curfew, but he thought he'd mention it, for his own benefit. Skylar's head pops up, and looks over at Leo. After a few seconds of silence, Skylar nods and turns over.

"Fine. You're paying for drinks." Leo pumps a fist in the air as they both go and change into something more suitable for the club.

After her song, Kitty quickly rushes outside, and catches the bus back to her house. She has a car, but her mom tells her not to use it; public transportation is more earth-friendly, and less money is used up on gas. So, Kitty has a practically unexpirable bus pass so her mom doesn't have to drive her to work on her way to the office where she works.

She barely does anything though, she goes to work late, and gets home early, but spends all her spare time talking and arranging "vacations" with her friends, or going out and drinking. She used to be an honest-to-God Christian, Louisa Wilde had only had two men in her life, her husband Tristan and God. She used to try many, many times to drill hardcore Christianity into Kitty, and Kitty has taken up a couple things, but Kitty mostly lives by her own rules. But, once Tristan Wilde died in a building fire, Louisa lost all hope in Jesus Christ, and turned to alcohol.

She keeps a full closet of booze in the kitchen, and whenever she's home, there's always a glass of some type of alcohol in her hand. Kitty and Louisa generally ignore each other, Kitty fends for herself, and her mom does everything she needs to stay alive, stumbling around almost perpetually drunk, slurring her words. Kitty pretends like she doesn't care, but it hurts her that her mom is so wasteful of his life. She should have learned that life was precious after what happened with Tristan. Once he died, her family basically fell apart. Her grandparents moved to Cuba, and occasionally Kitty escapes there by herself for the summer. Kitty loves going, she has a thorough knowledge of Spanish thanks to these trips, and it's helpful in school. Tristan always kept Louisa in line, from not going nuts or overboard and once Tristan was gone, Louisa turned into a monster. She's either drunk and/or passed out, or gone off with her rich-bitch friends, likely drinking as well. Kitty does give thanks to whoever is up there that her mom isn't violent. This situation had already ingrained a fear of being left and abandoned in Kitty, and the glee club leaving just strengthened that fear. So, Kitty copes with everything by lots of dancing, of all kinds, like her mentor taught her, and playing competitive Ultimate Frisbee on the weekends.

On the bus ride, Kitty takes out her journal, and fishes the key out from its hiding place under her Cheerios uniform. She always keeps it strung on a chain around her neck, she doesn't trust anyone, and she can't have this falling into the wrong hands. Sue made all of the Cheerios keep a journal, hoping they'd take after her, and ever since, Kitty has always wrote down things, it works wonders for writing practice for class, and it's nice to look back on her past, and vent her frustrations, mostly about Sue, or Glee Club.

Journaling everything that happened today; Cheerios practice, the food fight at lunch, Invitationals, singing in the choir room, Kitty covers the lined pages in swirly cursive. In her childhood, her mother was adamant in making sure that Kitty's handwriting was impeccable, and it stuck. It's a bit marred by the bumping of the bus on the road, but it still would hold up in a competition. When the bus eventually arrives at her stop, Kitty grabs her bag and waves to the driver as she gets off. It's the same woman every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, so she knows mostly all of the drivers that take this route. Walking along the bright, colorful streets, Kitty eventually turns to a small, beige, one story house, set slightly in front of the neighbors.

One of the things that Kitty likes about her house is the large backyard. Her house is on the Ottawa River, so she spends most of her time either in her room, or in the yard. When he was still alive, her dad even built her a small playhouse next to the river, so now she can be out there even in the rain. She keeps a lot of extra things in there, in case she wants to sleep out there in the summertime.

Jogging up the red brick pathway to the door, Kitty fishes her house key out of her bag, and lets herself in. Locking the door behind her, Kitty yells loudly, announcing her arrival to alert her mom of her presence. She trudges down the hall to her room, and throws her bag aside as she flops on her bed, sighing loudly.

Her room is small, since the entire house is tiny, but it's bigger than her mom's room. Her mom's bedroom has a bigger closet, and Louisa insisted so she could store all her clothes and shoes that she occasionally wears. Kitty's room has light gray walls, painted by Kitty herself, with black, white, and blue accents, Kitty's favorite colors. The bed, pushed into a corner, has a black and white bedspread with blue pillows, there's a desk off to one side, a closet on the opposite side, with a chest of drawers underneath the clothes rack. The main floor is bare, save a comfy blue rug. In the last corner, Kitty keeps her music and cheer stuff; her pompoms and other accessories, and an electric keyboard, a speaker, and a collection of hard drives dedicated to music so she doesn't have to keep them on her phone.

Kitty thinks about playing some music, but she feels more active than just dancing in her room. So, she changes into a knee-length metallic leopard print dress and strappy black heels, and heads out the door. Her hair now loose around her shoulders, she gets back on the bus, this time bound for West Lima, the area closer to Westerville. She's heading to Scandals.

**A/N: This is just an experiment. Comment if you like or hate and I might continue. Hopefully this doesn't suck.**


	2. Invitationals

Skylar and Leo arrive at Scandals quickly, and after checking their jackets, they head over to the bar. It's crowded with people of all ages, genders, races, and sexualities, drinking merrily, but the two boys manage to find two open spots. After Leo pays for drinks, like he promised, they look out at the crowded dance floor, surveying for potential dance partners.

Leo, being bisexual, has more options than Skylar, who's straight, and quickly slips away to dance with a hot redhead male who was eyeing him. Skylar is a little more specific about who he dances with; he won't waste his talent on an amateur. He directs his eyes towards the entrance, deciding that there's no one yet in the club good enough, so he'll watch the entrance for new people. Soon enough, a small crowd comes in, and Skylar watches them carefully as he finishes his drink.

Kitty arrives with the rest of the bus people, and she quickly slides out to the dance floor. She's a great dancer, her mentor taught her a lot of different dancing styles, and, due to her Cheerios experience, she mastered them easily.

Moving to the center of the room, she scans for a dance partner, then one of the boys that was with her on the bus waves at her. With dirty blonde hair and soft brown eyes, he's cute, but not Kitty's type. She waves him over; she knows him, and he's nice. He lives semi-near her, so they occasionally bump into each other. They both understand that they're just friends, but they occasionally go clubbing together. More often, they run into each other here.

They start dancing, and her partner switches from time to time, since a lot of people want a piece of her; she's hot and sexy, and she knows how to dance.

Skylar by now is dancing, with whoever dares to get close enough, but then another dancer catches his eye. A blonde girl dancing in the center of the club, and from what he can see she's really good. Plus, she looks hot. Short, twirly metallic dress, long blond hair. He smiles to himself and makes his way towards her.

Kitty sees a cute guy moving towards her, his eyes sparkling with mischief and excitement, and she meets him halfway. They start dancing, and Kitty is already impressed by his dancing skills. The two of them together are much better than any other people here; half of them are drunk amateurs, and the other half are clumsy, uncoordinated, drunk amateurs.

The two of them start dancing, and the crowd clears away to give the two space. The incomparable chemistry between the two catches everyone's eyes, and the teens move around the dance floor in a blur of motion and sexual tension. Skylar spins her around, and she bends backwards over his waiting arm in a perfectly executed dip. Both of their dancing backgrounds makes it so that they can dance well at all times, even if they're a bit tipsy.

Leo, who's also a tad bit dizzy, sees his friend dancing with a girl, and he smirks. Even slightly drunk, he can still see the sexual chemistry. He's hoping that Skylar has enough sense to ask her name, otherwise they are likely never going to see each other ever again. Leo hopes his friend can feel the tension so he'll man up, grow a pair, and ask for her name and phone number.

Neither of them get a good look at each other; neither know or remember that they saw each other earlier, and neither ask the other's name, both figure that they'll never meet again. Skylar has enough drink in his system that he won't recognize her, but if Kitty ever meets him again, she'll remember.

After the song ends, Kitty slips away unnoticed, and up to the bar, where she orders a margarita. Sipping it cautiously, she looks out at the dance floor. The flashing lights, crowded dance floor, and pulsing beat. She likes this kind of dancing, yes, but she also loves freestyle, just letting the music move you. It's just feels so free.

As she discreetly observes the dance floor, she makes small talk with the bartender, who knows her from her times here. She asks Kitty about school and cheerleading, and Kitty gives vague but informational answers, careful not to reveal too much. She's a fairly secretive person, she's not going to go and spill everything to a stranger, let alone one who works at a popular bar.

Once the last of her drink is gone, Kitty exits Scandals, catching the last bus home. It's just her on the ride, so she sits up at the front, and talks casually with the bus driver. Hopping off at her stop, she quickly darts around back, and slips to her room unnoticed. Quickly changing into simply on old oversize t shirt and underwear, she slides under her black and white covers, falling asleep almost instantly, dreaming of dancing and singing on stage again.

The next morning, Skylar and Leo quickly get their uniforms on, heading down to breakfast with the rest of the blazered boys. Thanking the chefs for the waffles, the two take their seats with the rest to the Warblers, and they all chat animatedly about what the New Directions will perform today. They don't have to leave for McKinley until afternoon, so they have a lot of time on their hands to speculate. And place bets. Typical activity for prep school boys.

They start a pool of ten dollars per person, on what kind of performance the New Directions will do. Most of the Warblers think that they'll go with a dance number, Skylar, Leo, Ethan, Nathan, and Dorian think that they'll go with a vocal performance, and the rest of them think that they'll go for full out theatricality to try and top the Warblers and Vocal Adrenaline.

Everyone pools their money, and Skylar, as the trusted and honorable Head Warbler, puts it all in a Ziploc bag and tucks it into his binder for safekeeping until they get their results.

In the morning, once Kitty gets to school, after early morning Cheerios practice she heads to her second class of the day, but gets intercepted by one Rachel Berry. Kitty rolls her eyes. She knows exactly what's coming.

"Hey!" Rachel calls, scampering up to the cheerleader. "Your name is Kitty Wilde. You were named after a Bruce Springsteen song. You don't trust newspapers because you think that they lied about Watergate. You once beat up a mascot at a little league softball game for trying to start the wave with everyone . . ." Rachel takes a breath, and Kitty smiles, partly in fond remembrance of the memories, and part annoyance at Rachel. "You say that your favorite color is 'Jesus', oh, and you prefer Triscuits over Wheat Thins, and sometimes you don't wear underwear, but I got that last one from Artie, so-" Kitty rolls her eyes.

"Are you trying to pick me up, because if you're going to go lezzy with a cheerleader, I think the world's kinda rooting for you and Quinn Fabray," the blonde drawls. Kitty has definitely heard musings from Sue and the other Cheerios about so called 'Faberry', and Kitty isn't sure if Rachel's heard that one yet but she clearly has, because her face flushes a bit, but she keeps rambling.

"I just want you to know that I've taken some time to get to know you, and that who you are is important to me-"

"So that I don't feel like I'm being used when you ask me to rejoin glee club?" Rachel sighs in defeat, and Kitty nods in acknowledgement of herself being right.

"Pretty much."

"Look, Rachel," Kitty says as she puts a little more space between her and the adult diva. "You have a reputation for being an inherently selfish person, you rarely ask people what they think, and when you do, it's usually in the context of 'what do you think about me?'" Kitty pauses, and Rachel looks shocked, seeming to realize that what Kitty's saying is true. Kitty shakes her head and continues. "I took a chance, and joined _Mr. Schuester's_ glee club because I knew that even though it was gonna hurt my rep, it was being led by a kind man, committed to teaching, and there were a bunch of kids in there who had my back when things got hairy. Now what's there?" Kitty's face gets a twinge of sadness as she recalls her time in glee. "A chubber, a transfer student, a bizarro Jamie and Cersei Lannister, and an advisor who's going to jump ship as soon as the real world invites her back to the stage." Rachel glances around as other kids come filing in for their classes, and then feels a large portion of guilt and sympathy for Kitty. She's been through a lot, and didn't deserve what happened. And, Rachel can't find it in her to deny Kitty's accusation, mostly because it's true. "So, no thanks."

It's killing Kitty that she can't rejoin glee, but she knows her logic is right; the club won't last, and she'll just get hurt again. And that terrifies her. Kitty straightens, and, remembering that she has a different class, speed-walks out into the hallway, partly hoping that Rachel will follow her and promise not to leave, the other part mentally telling her to fuck off. Part of Kitty is pleased, because Rachel, as expected, follows her into the hall.

"Kitty, we need you. Alright, your energy, your enthusiasm, I-I don't know you very well, but I know you love performing." Rachel's words hit home inside Kitty, and she stops, without turning to face the brunette. Kitty nods slightly.

"I did. I did love it." Kitty hears Rachel step closer to her, and hopes that this ends well. Which means, she hopes that she doesn't start crying, or going all bitch-rage on Berry.

"You can sing, you can dance, and-and, yes, Santana's cruelty definitely scarred me for the rest of my life, but I know that the glee club needs a top bitch to keep everyone in line." Kitty turns to face Rachel at the mention of Santana. She was her glee club's top bitch, and so was Kitty after Santana graduated. But this only makes Kitty more upset and emotional.

"I invested everything into glee club, and what did it get me? They all deserted me." Kitty shakes her head, feeling her eyes start to fill with tears, but she holds them back. Rachel looks at the heartbroken blonde, and her heart swells with sympathy and sadness for her. "The only reason I'm still here is because Sue needed me for Cheerios. I miss singing, and dancing, and the feeling of being in the choir room." Kitty takes a shaky breath. "But I know Sue. And I know you, and I don't want to jump back in just to get my heart broken again in a couple weeks when it all goes away." Kitty tries to make Rachel understand that this is killing her, but she can't. It scares her too much. Rachel nods in understanding, and steps closer to Kitty.

"Look. This is real. Okay, I'm not going anywhere until my job here is done, and the glee club is back at McKinley permanently. Look, You have my word. You come back, a-and we'll see this through, together." Kitty looks away for a second, her mind in mid-conflict over this. Slowly, hesitantly, she nods. Then, she nods again, more confidently. Rachel's eyes widen.

"I'll come back."

"Really?"

"Yes. But I'm holding you to your promise."

"O-of course. I can't believe it! Thank you!" Rachel bursts into excitement, and quickly hugs Kitty, only to release her immediately, looking sheepish. Kitty smiles a bit.

"Well, someone has to take the title of top bitch, and keep those losers in line."

"You sound so much like Santana."

"Thanks. And I will help you guys for Invitationals. I have a few things you should know." Rachel beams, and they walk to Kitty's next class, Kitty darting inside while Rachel scurries off to the choir room.

In between classes, Kitty and Rachel talk, and Kitty tells her all about Sue's secret emotionally vulnerable songs playlist. She tells Rachel how she got the passcodes, but doesn't tell her what they are. After disabling the camera around Sue's office, the two sneak inside while Sue is having a JV Cheerios practice.

Making quick work of hacking into Sue's computer - Kitty's always been fairly tech-savvy - they find the playlist, and between Rachel and Kitty's musical minds, they find the perfect set list, write down the songs, and escape just in time, since Sue rounds the corner just as they're exiting the front office. While Kitty's in her next classes, Rachel gets the sheet music for the songs, and calls an emergency meeting during lunch.

During lunch, the glee club members gather in the choir room with Rachel. Rachel introduces Kitty, and they all hug her, and thank her for joining. Then, Kitty and Rachel introduce their new set list, and after a few bitchy comments from Kitty since they were complaining, they get to work.

By the time their turn for Invitationals comes up, Sam Evans has also recruited slightly jerkish Spencer Porter, the perfect addition for the first song. Also, he's highly in need of a little Kitty-Bitching, which Kitty is more than happy to provide.

It's time for Invitationals, and the New Directions are pacing around backstage. Vocal Adrenaline files in boredly, and coach-less Warblers follow, since Blaine and Kurt are still M.I.A.

Everyone takes their seats, and Sue introduces the New Directions. All the Warblers are excited to know who won the bet. When the curtains part, Leo, Ethan Nathan, and Dorian cheer internally. The now six of them are simply standing on the stage, the three girls on one side in blue lace dresses, and the boys on the other in blue shirts and black pants. They definitely went with just singing. They won the pot!

Skylar smiles at the increasing members, then sees the blonde cheerleader onstage. She starts them off with _It Must Have Been Love _by Roxette, in a duet with a burly jock-looking guy. Skylar frowns slightly. Are those two a thing? But, he's glad she joined them, and she looks really happy up there. She also looks really hot in that dress, he notices.

Their duet is beautiful, and from what Skylar can see, Sue looks very affected. She seems . . . like she actually has emotions besides rage. Skylar is pretty sure that they'll win Invitationals, their voices are really good. Especially the blonde girl's. Their second song is _Father Figure _by George Michael, led by the chubby brunette guy with glasses. The remaining three bring it home with _All Out of Love_ by Air Supply, and everyone stands and applauds, Vocal Adrenaline more reluctantly. Sometime during the first song, Blaine and Kurt miraculously showed up, which relieved Skylar. He's sad that Blaine couldn't have seen them perform, since they did really well, but they can always try a reprise for him later.

Kitty was unsure about the second song on the set list, but she does admit that it is a good song, and worked like a charm on Sue. But, this song is also emotional for her, since her dad died. She listened to _Father Figure_ a lot when she was working to get over it, but it still really hurts. Plus, Roderick did such a good job with it, that it was hard for her not to run offstage. But, luckily, they won, so she can relax, and do something else to get her mind off of Tristan.

All the groups go up onstage, and Sue slowly and sarcastically announces the winners. The Warblers get third, but Skylar figures that's because Sue doesn't like either them or Blaine. Vocal Adrenaline gets second, and the New Directions get first, as Skylar predicted, and Vocal Adrenaline doesn't look too happy about it, even though it's a completely unprofessional event. It was really just them showing off to each other, and trying to get everyone intimidated for Sectionals.

As the Warblers messily file back onto the bus, Kirk, Leo, Ethan, Owen, and Randy are up front, along with Skylar, who's silent, and the boys are talking hurriedly about the mysterious blonde.

"She was so hot in that dress…"

"And that voice!"

"Do you think she's single?"

"What about that guy she sang the duet with?"

"I wonder what her name is…"

"I hope she's at Sectionals!"

Conversation like this continued the whole way back to Dalton, where Skylar, Leo, Ethan, Nathan, and Dorian split the pool evenly. Taking their shares of the victory back to their dorm, Skylar and Leo lie on their beds, each thinking, Leo about what's for dinner, and Skylar about the gorgeous McKinley blonde that has been so intriguing to everyone, including himself.

At McKinley, the New Directions celebrate their minor victory with Kurt and Rachel, and then, Mr. Schue joins them, saying that he quit Vocal Adrenaline. They have a miniature celebration, and then they jump into prep for Regionals, since they have a bit of time before the school day officially ends. The glee club now consists of six members, Jane Hayward, Roderick Meeks, Madison and Mason McCarthy, Spencer Porter, and Kitty. They still need to do a lot of recruiting to reach the required number of members for Sectionals.

Kitty rushes home, writing down everything in her journal on the bus like normal, and then, since it's nice out, takes her phone, earbuds, book, and a blanket, and sets up in the yard, close to her little shelter. Luckily, the shelter locks, so does her room, and Kitty keeps both keys on her necklace, with her journal key. Lying in the sun, Kitty stretches out on her blanket, and thumbs through her book, trying to find where she left off.

**A/N: Hope it's ok. Next stop, bye bye Dalton :(**


End file.
